1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to consumer electronic devices in a network that share distributed access to resources, and more particularly to providing on-line help and configuration information for consumer electronic devices in an audio/video network.
2. Description of the Background Art
Consumer electronic devices generally have limited resources, including RAM, ROM, display size, etc., to store and display information, including complete operating instructions, to a user. To compensate for the current inability to provide such information to users, printed operating manuals are distributed with consumer electronic devices to educate users on features and guide them through using a device. Although printed manuals can provide useful information, they do not make a device user friendly and they are easily misplaced. Additionally, printed manuals do not assist a user in integrating the use of several consumer electronic devices. Similarly, when a device increases or decreases its functionality, a printed manual is unable to alert a user of the change.
The IEEE-1394 digital interface standard is a serial digital interface enabling high-speed (up to 400 Mbps) data communication among multimedia consumer electronic equipment such as video camcorders, electronic still cameras, and digital audio/visual equipment. Features of IEEE-1394 include live connection/disconnection without data loss or interruption, automatic configuration supporting plug and play, and flexible network topology allowing mixing branches and daisy-chains.
The high-speed data transfer of the 1394 interface has enabled the connection of digital consumer products directly to a personal computer, promising the advent of integrated audio/video networks that may take advantage of distributed resources. For example, consumer electronic devices participating in an audio/video network may share distributed access to a particular feature of one of the network devices. Such flexibility, however, exacerbates the limitations of printed manuals. It is therefore desirable to provide methods and apparatus to increase the availability of operating instructions and other information to make consumer electronic devices more user-friendly.
Methods and systems consistent with the present invention provide distributed help and configuration information for a plurality of consumer electronic devices in an audio/video network. An embodiment consistent with the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, includes an audio/video network of various consumer electronic devices, each device containing information related to its configuration, features, and function.
At least one network device must contain a help system that collects help information for all network devices, and coordinates the presentation of help information in an audio or video text or track, or a combination. The help information may be presented in an interactive or non-interactive form. Any network device containing a presentation device may present the help instructions.
An implementation consistent with the present invention retrieves a help request from a user of a consumer electronic device, accesses help information associated with the device, and presents help instructions addressing the help request. The help information is modifiable according to characteristics associated with the device or other network devices.